An electrical connector of the type which has contact terminals having wire-receiving slots is usually installed on a multi-conductor cable by positioning the cable in alignment with the terminals in the connector and inserting the conductors in the cable into the wire-receiving slots in the terminal. A common type of connector has a body portion from which the wire-receiving portions of the terminals extend and a cover member which is above the ends of the wire-receiving portions. The cable is positioned between the cover and the free ends of the terminals and the cover is moved downwardly to push the conductors into the cable into the wire-receiving slots of the terminals. The operation is carried out by means of a press which may be a simple bench press or may be part of an integrated, fully automatic cable-making machine.
In the operation of a simple bench press, the operator must place a connector in the nest of the press which holds the connector during installation, position the cable in the press, actuate the press, and then remove the cable assembly with the connector installed thereon from the press. During each operating cycle of an automatic cable-making machine, a cable assembly is removed at the end of an operating cycle and connectors are then placed in the machine for the next operating cycle. In both cases, the steps of removing the connector which has been installed on a cable from the press and placing a replacement connector in the press is time consuming. In the case of a bench applicator, an operator will spend more time manipulating the connectors than in carrying out the actual installation process which merely requires that the press be actuated. In the case of a cable-making machine, manual placement of connectors in the machine for each operating cycle would significantly reduce the production rate of the machine. It is desirable, therefore, to have a fully automatic system for ejecting connectors from the press which have been installed on the cable and, at the same time, feeding a new connector into the press of the bench machine or the automatic cable-making machine. The present invention is directed to the achievement of an apparatus which fully automatically and rapidly removes a connector from a magazine containing a stack of connectors and inserts the connector removed from the stack into the nest or other receiving portions of an applicator or an automatic cable-making machine.